


Lesbians in Space

by lesbomommy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance, Cuban Lance, F/F, F/M, Female Pidge, Female pronouns for Pidge, Fluff, Gay Keith, German Pidge, Give Pidge A Girlfriend 2k17, He Don't Need Anyone But His Bros, I haven't seen anything like this before so if its awful I'm so sorry???, I'm a fan of asexual Hunk tho, If Haggar can be Altean there's GOTTA be more of them right, Japanese Shiro, Korean Keith, Lesbian Pidge, M/M, Original Female Altean Character, Pidge and her much deserved gf are gonna be the main focus, Polynesian Hunk, Post Season 2, allura's sufferin, also, among other origins, and im mostly fluent in German i rly like showing off forgive me, background klance - Freeform, background shallura - Freeform, bc thats actually canon too now im so hype, bc thats canon lol, but he ain't got any relationships here rip Hunk, fair amount of canon divergence, hes Samoan, i don't really have headcanons for them?, i doubt many of the others are all that heterosexual but i mean, like a lot of fluff eventually, ok i know people usually just leave it as white but Holt is a German last name, shiro's missin, that ones confirmed too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 11:41:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9489584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbomommy/pseuds/lesbomommy
Summary: You've heard of gays in space now get ready for: lesbians in spaceIn which more Alteans are found on a planet they visit and a plucky little Altean girl catches my girl Pidge's attention. Mostly centered around Pidge and her being the second paladin to fall for an Altean, but theres some background Klance and Shallura because HECK season 2 was confirming the shit out of it like I'm not the only one that noticed and also vehemently loved that right





	1. Deserted

**Author's Note:**

> As I specified in the tags, they're all a lil aged up, so it would be  
> Pidge - 16  
> Female OC (whose name is yet to be revealed ;) - 16  
> Keith/Lance/Hunk - 18  
> Shiro - 27

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

In, then back out.

_Breathe._

It was all she could make herself focus on, all she could use to anchor herself as she heard the footsteps of her fellow paladins beside her thud against the ground as they ran. The black lion's silhouette was fading into the robotic lion they knew, and Pidge tried to focus on getting there, getting inside, checking on Shiro. But it seemed like everything was determined to distract her. Or that she was determined to distract herself with everything. Like the huffing of her teammates beside her as they sprinted, the scuffle of grainy dirt beneath their boots. She was certain it couldn't just be her mind going a thousand miles a minute, because it went without saying to presume they all had the same fear when they entered the lion's giant mechanic mouth. 

Of course they were all hoping for the same thing, that they would get here and realize all their apprehension had been pointless.

An almost eerie silence fell over the lion as they reached the cockpit. Not a word was breathed for what felt like centuries as they all stared forward, at the empty seat before them, and at the abandoned bayard still in the dashboard. No one wanted to admit it, but it was too easily foreseen as they were hurrying in.

Paladin armor soon felt restricting, too hot and tight and compressing against Pidge's chest, making breathing impossible. Sure, they'd known something could happen to any of them the entire time they'd been apart of Voltron; piloting a giant robot described as the, "most powerful force in the world," was far from a safe job. But the realization that a member of their team was gone, really gone, it became too much. Not only was their friend gone, someone they all cared about deeply and had their own personal relationship with, but Shiro was their leader, too. What were they supposed to do without a leader? Who was better than Shiro to lead them? Not to mention to paladin the black lion. A million thoughts, a million worries, ran through Pidge's mind. So much jumbled her thoughts she found herself staring off at the empty cockpit before her, shaky breaths being drawn in. 

"He's not here," she heard Keith say, just barely. And she almost wanted to point out how stupidly obvious that was, but Pidge found herself needing the reassurance that what she saw was real. She didn't want to hear it, and confirm her fears, but at least she knew what she was seeing was real. Stupidly, frighteningly real. 

Allura instructed them all to return to their lions, that she would pilot the black lion back to the hangar on the ship and they would go from there. Baby steps, she told them. It would be alright. But as they all emptied out of the black lion, tears burning in the corners of her eyes felt almost inevitable to streaming down her face. But she forced herself not to get so emotional in front of her team, even if she was the youngest and it was expected. She could save that sadness for when she was alone. When she was in Green and she didn't have to worry about the consolation she didn't think she wanted right now. 

She noticed Keith and Lance lean on one another for support as they left, more emotional than as a result of any physical injury she presumed, and she wished she had such a simple way to find comfort in something like the two of them found in each other. How much harder was it going to be for her to feel okay? What if someone needed Voltron, but they were all still healing? They wouldn't even be able to form Voltron, because they didn't have their black paladin. 

 

If it was possible, the castle felt even more deathly eerie than the black lion had when they first arrived to find it empty. At least, it had on the first day. Now, it had been a week, and Pidge had been searching and searching almost endlessly since they had got back. She tried to connect to his robotic arm, and even after days of failed attempts, it didn't stop Pidge from continuing to try and find some sort of connection to him so they would have some sort of lead. Many days of being awoke from slumping awkwardly against a hidden corner with her laptop in her lap was soon growing into more of a habit than sleeping in her bed. She expected to be reprimanded for failing to take care of herself and not getting enough sleep. But she knew it was Shiro who was usually telling her off for not getting enough sleep, and he wasn't here. At first, she tried to look at the brighter side of it, that she could stay up as late as she wanted without fearing being yelled at by Shiro for not sleeping when she was hardly concerned about getting enough sleep. But now that he was missing, she found herself wishing she could hear that fatherly tone that told her she shouldn't still be up. That she was a growing kid and needed to take better care of herself. 

Still, it was getting better. It failed to be the only thing on everyone's mind anymore, which was good. But any time someone didn't show up for dinner or was late for training with the team, it was an unspoken knowledge that they were probably overcome with being upset yet again. 

It seemed like everyone was able to deal with it a little better than Pidge could, though. 

Sure, she was able to push down her feelings and not really acknowledge it so that she wouldn't be overcome with sadness until she could be alone. Until she could talk to Green and receive answers telepathically so it felt more private. But she couldn't really deal with it like the others, because they all had someone they could talk to.

Keith and Lance had one another to talk to, and Hunk had Lance to talk to, too, because they were such close friends. Allura and Coran had a close bond, too, and it made it easy for them to talk about things like this. Allura saw Coran like a father figure, and losing Shiro was definitely a thing she would talk to someone like that about. But Pidge had never found herself close enough to anyone to talk like this. Keith and Lance were a couple, Lance and Hunk had always been closer friends with each other than with her at the Garrison, and Allura and Coran had spent who knows how long together before being cryogenically frozen for all that time. Pidge didn't have that sort of connection to anyone on her team. Except for maybe one exception, which had been Shiro. 

They had really never known much of each other before Voltron, but he knew her brother and father because they'd been on the Kerberos mission together, and Pidge was certain if Matt and Shiro were as close as they were when at the Garrison together that he'd been a little present in her childhood. Despite it not being a bond that went too far back, it was the most she had up here when her family was yet to be found. 

Pidge had never considered that she needed anyone to be around but herself, and the occasional friend. She liked her alone time, and she didn't find anything wrong with enjoying being alone. But she was only 16, and this was by far the most difficult thing she'd had to deal with in her life so far. Times like this were when she was really hit with how she was the youngest one out of them all. 

 

It was a few days past that initial first week, and in those few days Pidge hadn't let up on trying to find Shiro. But, as expected, it was to no avail. Now, she would had no problem continuously searching until she could find their friend, if it wasn't for Allura stopping her, insisting she rest. 

"I just think you're overworking yourself," Allura explained, her eyes full of concern as Pidge was pulled out of yet another neck cramping nap against a wall. 

"Well, finding Shiro isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to do, and I don't see anyone else doing much of anything," Pidge replied, a small twinge of regret forming in her stomach as she felt the sharpness of her words. Due to lack of sleep, she insisted, but at the mention of the loss of the black paladin, Allura's expression fell to a more solemn, even sadder one. Pidge knew why, and knew that she was likely feeling some of the worst loss out of them all. 

Regardless, Allura didn't snap back. It was a polite calmness Pidge supposed even her sleep deprived self could respect. 

"We are all trying," the princess told her slowly, tone threatening to grow even a bit condescending, before she went on, "But Shiro is not why I suggest you get some rest." She finished. 

"We're responding to a distress signal from a nearby planet. You should be ready. It only seems to be minor, but it's better safe than sorry." She advised, before she disappeared to speak to the other paladins. 

A distress signal? Like, they needed to help people? Allura thought they could handle this, right now? 

Maybe it didn't even matter if they could or not. If Voltron started grieving too much for too long over a lost teammate, everyone would begin to lose hope. They'd think Voltron, which was supposed to be the strongest thing in the world, was weakening. No one would believe the Galra Empire could be taken down at that point. Allura was probably just doing her best to ensure everyone else thought things were okay. How long would they all, especially her, be able to play into that facade, though? 

 

The hiss of the engine let Pidge know they were landing, and for the first time in a while she sat up from sleeping in her bed. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she got up to dress herself. She kept telling herself that this wouldn't be that bad. That Allura did tell them it was minor, and if it wasn't? Well, this could be a good distraction. The never ending sound of Keith on the training deck at least assured Pidge that hitting something helped _someone_ blow off steam. She just knew she would feel better if she were at her computer, able to pick up on anything on Shiro's whereabouts instantly. It would be ages before she could make herself not think constantly about how they could be getting information on Shiro _any second_ , and how she _wasn't there to see it_. 

Her paladin armor didn't have the same strangling feeling it did the last time she wore it, but it still made her think about that day again. Pidge failed to recall ever being that scared before. When her family had gone missing, all she could feel was anger. Anger because she knew the Garrison would cover it up to protect their image, and Pidge was determined to find them because she knew the Garrison wasn't going to. And even if they were looking, it was far from their biggest priority. 

But this time, she knew if it was hard to find him, it wasn't because someone was deliberately hiding their whereabouts. It was because it was near impossible to locate them. And that there was a good chance they wouldn't be able to. 

With a slight shake of her head, Pidge tried to put aside those thoughts. She shouldn't work herself up so much when they're just on a little mission to help out a planet nearby. It was probably just a small planet, one with a small population of aliens that were in need of resources or something. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to the others as they waited for the ship to land.

 

The planet they landed on was something right out of a cliche dystopian novel. A cloud of dirt billowed around the ship as it landed, settling as it opened for them to climb out. There was sand stretching hundreds of miles in each direction, and Pidge was almost certain they landed back in that abandoned place they found Keith in back on Earth. A few oddly colored cacti grew in patches, ranging from one so small Pidge could've held it in her hand, to ones so large she could almost hear Lance announcing he would climb it, and Keith telling him he'd hurt himself. There were small tufts of grass that were sprinkled throughout parts of the sandy expanse. But instead of earths lush green, or even the sandy, yellow-green of greenery in earth's deserts, it was a teal color that reminded Pidge of the blue of the Balmera. Strangest of all, they didn't seem to be greeted by anyone when they landed.

They had come to the right place, didn't they? Maybe it was a false alarm? Pidge would be lying to say that idea didn't make her happy. She wanted nothing more than to get back on the ship and sit at her computer for a few more hours and try and locate the MIA black paladin. 

"Hello?" Allura called out. 

Within a few seconds of Allura talking, the sandy ground started to shift, just a couple feet ahead of them. Allura stepped back, and something like a hatch opened, like it was revealing a basement beneath the planets surface. The opening was more like sand caving into a sink hole, and they all stared for a moment, not sure what to expect or even what to do. Was this an entrance to where they needed to go? Were they being told to go down here? Maybe the planets barren, desert-like surface was just too deprived for anyone to live on, so they'd taken refugee beneath the surface? 

Finally, a person slowly began to appear, like they were walking up a staircase, finally appearing at the top. Aside from Allura and Coran, they seemed to be the most humanoid aliens they'd encountered so far. Or at least, Pidge was assuming, because said person was draped in clothes from head to toe, which couldn't be comfortable in the planets hot humidity. From the wrap at their head and draping over their eyes, to the wraps of fabric cascading down their body, to the only form fitting piece of clothing they wore, which were boots. Everything was the sandy browns and beige's of the planets sandy surface, save from the oddly colored plant life. 

"Hello," They finally replied, in the same accent that laced Allura's words. 

"Who are you?" Allura asked them, "Are you the one who called?" 

The stranger just nodded. Their hands rose to the cloak-like hood they wore, pulling it down and meeting the princesses eyes. The stranger had the same deeply tanned skin as Allura, the same longer, pointed elf-like ears she had. Below their eyes was the same triangular splotch of color, but on them it was an orange rather than the pink Allura sported, eyes a deep purple, and mass of hair extending past their shoulders snowy white despite not appearing to be in more than their thirties. 

Before Allura's question, that they undoubtedly were all wondering about, could be asked, the alien interrupted them. Taking a knee before Allura, their gaze fell to the ground as their head dipped in respect.

"My name is Jarre. It is an honor to finally meet you, Princess Allura."  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a slightly different kind of writing than I usually do, but I hope you all like it! I tried to go for something i haven't seen much of before, so here we are. Comments are greatly appreciated! :)


	2. Not Quite So Deserted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (I promise these summaries will get better as the story goes on)  
> Allura finds more of her people, while Pidge and Hunk make friends with a few of them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm planning on doing what most people do in regards to updating, and doing it on a weekly basis. As for the first couple chapters, they'll probably come out over the course of a few days. I'm going to try my best to get people interested before having spaced out updates, so I thank you if you stick around long enough to see it get interesting!  
> Please keep in mind that I am a student, and I have a lot of work to do outside this, so while I'm going to try to set Saturday as being the day I'll update, chapters can be prone to be a little late.  
> I hope you enjoy the story; comments of all kinds are welcomed!

A lot of things were unusual about this. Firstly, the person they found was Altean. How was that even possible? Sure, Pidge had heard about how Haggar was Altean, but even then, Haggar was ageless. She could've lived through Allura and Coran's cryogenic freezing period. But this couldn't possibly be true, could it? How could other Altean's have survived?

But even so, how did he know Allura's name? And know to address her as princess on top of that? Allura hadn't been conscious for 10,000 years. 

"You're... Altean?" Allura asked first, eyeing Jarre as if she was trying to find any flaws in his appearance to tip her off that this was fake, "How do you know who I am?" 

"Well, that's just it." Jarre began. "I'm Altean, and so are the rest of _our_ people here. We've never let go of Altean culture as long as we've been here. We've all heard so much about you." he explained, standing and looking to her as he spoke. 

"10 millennia ago, when Zarkon attacked Altea, everyone was wiped out, as were the other planets in our solar system. But a handful of Altean's lived here, on Sahra, one of our nearly abandoned colonies," Jarre continued, "Over time, our population grew and grew, and we've tried to make this place feel as home as we could. But after all this time, we have only our culture. There isn't an Altean alive but you and our King Alfor who have ever seen Altea." He finished, sadness filling his gaze as he spoke to Allura. If Allura was sad remembering Altea, these people must've been even sadder longing to know what it was like without ever seeing it. 

"But it is an honor to meet you, Princess Allura." Jarre added, with a more joyful lilt, and Allura gave him the most grateful look she could muster, "Welcome to Sahra."

Pidge tried to imagine what that could be like. She knew her and the other paladins were sad to think about the planet they left behind, because they missed it dearly and longed to be with their families again. They wished they could go back to those places they had so many fond memories of. But she didn't know how she would feel knowing her planet existed, knowing she was descended from people who lived there, but never lived there, never saw it, and would never be able to see it, because it was destroyed. Their entire culture was the same as Altean's from Altea, but on top of that, it was that they were the 'lucky to even be here' Alteans. 

"How did you and King Alfor survive this long?" Jarre asked after a moment of solemn silence. He'd probably needed a moment to gather himself. Allura looked like she needed that short minute too. 

"Myself and my royal adviser, Coran, were cryogenically frozen for those 10 millennia." Allura explained, "King Alfor, unfortunately... perished not long after Coran and I were put into our sleep." she informed him somberly. 

The loss of her father was hard enough for her to handle, let alone having to break the news to someone else. It was a different kind of sadness; informing the paladins was only grim and upsetting for her; but it was a new level of sorrow having to break the news to someone who would feel crestfallen with her, not pitiful for her. 

"His memories and consciousness was kept in the computer in my castle, able to interact with for a while, but unfortunately it was destroyed when a Galra crystal corrupted the system." she added, painstakingly. 

Jarre, who was already downcast when explaining his peoples history here, didn't look much better after hearing about the death of King Alfor. Allura looked as if she wished it didn't have to be mentioned. She didn't like thinking or talking about it anymore than Jarre liked hearing it. 

As if determined to get off the saddening topic, Allura spoke up again.

"You said there were others, may we meet them?"

 

The paladins and Allura followed Jarre down to the underground civilization where he'd come up from. The entrance, Pidge realized, was like a hatch that opened up and revealed a staircase that descended a couple feet until it was significantly cooler than the surface. Where they entered appeared to be a town center, which made Pidge believe the opening to the surface of the world was a very public thing. She had first assumed they never came to the surface, and they would descend into some sort of government facility where them getting inside would be very secretive; which actually would've been pretty exciting. 

Then again, after recent events, Pidge had all the excitement she needed for quite some time. 

They were lead to a gathering of people, which Pidge learned was the entirety of the population. It seemed small, but perhaps it was just for this area of the planet. When they arrived, cheering commenced, and Pidge first assumed it was them recognizing them as the paladins of Votlron, but for once, it wasn't. All eyes were on Allura, as they clearly noticed another Altean, and even more so, noticed her as their long presumed dead Princess. Maybe this was just the thing they all needed to relax for a bit; to not have the attention on Voltron all the time. 

Allura _did_ deserve more recognition than she got, anyway. 

Allura began speaking to Jarre and surrounding others about things like politics, slowly trailing off into discussions about Altea that Pidge really couldn't relate to. Allura seemed happy, downright ecstatic, to have Altean's besides Coran to speak to.

 

Pidge and the other paladins retreated to the ship only to change back into casual clothing, before returning underground. Clearly they didn't need to be clad in armor right now. When they returned, the returned with Coran, who was just as overjoyed (while first surprised) at the discovery of more Alteans. 

As they soon discovered, the gathering of Alteans were there for a welcoming party for Princess Allura returning to them. And that left the rest of them with some time to just... waste. Pidge felt a little awkward about it at first; like she should be doing so much more in her free time than just partying here with these aliens. But Allura found more Alteans, which was important to her. If it was important to the princess, it should be important to the rest of them, as Coran had said. And besides, they couldn't all just work all the time. They'd been through so much. Maybe they didn't have to feel so guilty about relaxing once in a while. 

They had been introduced to many of the politically important people on Sahra, and Pidge had listened to them a bit, but she wasn't too interested in the politics of another planet that wasn't in distress. Her interest finally piqued when they began talking about the technology of the planet, and that was also where they lost Hunk, who'd wandered off with three Altean's specializing in technology on Sahra. From what she heard, the Sahran-Alteans were no less smart than the Alteans from Altea. 

Keith and Lance were undoubtedly going to get themselves into trouble, or get themselves hurt, and that was confirmed not two minutes later when they all overheard yelling from the couple and another Altean, and then the hatch opening, with the trio leaving for the acrid surface of the planet. What else was new, really. 

Pidge considered staying back from any of the groups they split off into, figuring 'time to herself would be good', which her mind coined in an all too Shiro-like way. But she knew she wouldn't be happy doing _that,_ so ran to catch up with Hunk and the small group of Alteans he disappeared with. 

 

"Oh, hey Pidge." Hunk greeted, "I thought you might wanna come with." 

Pidge nodded. "Where are we headed? And... who with?" she asked, eyeing the other three she didn't recognize. 

"This is Chaz, Kaye, and Elyza." He pointed each of them out to Pidge as he went on. "They're heads of technology here. Cool, right? And, we're heading over to something they've been setting up for later tonight. For Allura, I guess? Man, I've never seen any planet we visit this excited to see her. Or any of us either, actually. Good for her!" 

Nodding, they all started to walk again. Pidge eyed the others as they traveled, trying to match names to faces.

Chaz was a bit taller than Pidge, with nappy white hair fluffing up no more than an inch, and the same sepia complexion as Allura. He could've been her twin had color under his eyes not been blue, and his iris's a more violet purple than Jarre's had been, his left nostril pierced with a small, thin golden hoop ring. 

Kaye was the shortest of them all, arguably just reaching Pidge's height. Her snowy hair extended past the small of her back, bangs cut short at her brow which made her stoic expression appear even more blank. Her skin was a tawny bronze, and the marks under her azure eyes were a soft pink.

Elyza was taller than Pidge, second to Hunk in height, frame a little broader than her two Altean comrades. Her hair was white like the others, reaching her jaw. The top of it was pulled back into twin buns on either side of the back of her head. Her hairline formed into a widows peak, too, Pidge noticed. It seemed to be a common thing in Alteans, and the gene didn't wear off, even here. Elyza had, like Chaz and Allura both, cafe skin to contrast her icy hair. Her eyes were sapphire blue, matching the pale purple beneath them. Lastly, unlike Chaz, her thin hooped rings were larger and deep purple, hanging from her ears.

Allura was beautiful, sure, but Pidge had no idea many of the Altean's closer to her age would be just as breathtaking. 

 

"We're trying to set up speakers for later tonight," Chaz explained, leading them backstage to a mass of wires and metal that, maybe with careful precision, could be sorted into something of use. To be quite honest, Pidge hoped they didn't try to get this bonfire hazard working before now, because it looked like it would explode if someone looked at it wrong. 

"It looks more like a... huge bomb," Pidge raised an eyebrow, starting to unplug things anywhere and everywhere to prevent anyone from getting electrocuted, "Do most things on this planet look like this?"

"We haven't had much time to work on the presentation part of it," Chaz pointed out.

"Or the 'not dying when you touch it' part," Elyza quipped, "This part of welcoming Princess Allura back was towards the end of our work. Most of the time we were trying to contact you guys." she explained. She probably didn't want anyone to think this was her teams primary work turnout. Pidge could sympathize; she worked with  _Lance_ at the Garrison.

Pidge and Hunk quickly subsided into comparing this to earthen machinery, seeing if the things they'd worked on back on earth would be any help here. After that it was trying to see how much this paralleled what was on the castle ship, since both things were Altean, but they were slowly seeing more and more deviations from Altea-Altean things, and Sahran-Altean things. Eventually, when they'd unplugged everything in sight and weren't at risk for electrocution anymore, it seemed the issue was a lot more clear. It was a lot less work than the Altean's had figured at first, and after about an hour of wire clipping and messing around with the infrastructure, it seemed to be able to produce enough sound to make them all cover their ears to avoid going deaf from this close. 

With the main part of it fixed, Hunk, Chaz, and Kaye stayed behind to work making sure it didn't burst into flames or anything like that, while Pidge and Elyza broke off to wire everything up. Elyza explained they were looking for pretty much the equivalent of surround sound on the stage, and hooking everything up was pretty simple. Despite this being one of the easier things Pidge had worked on, she was enjoying herself. Even though it was more and more obvious the Altean's all knew what they were doing when working on this, and invited the more tech savvy of the Voltron paladins to try and bond with them. 

Pidge glanced over to Elyza as she worked, wondering if making small talk would be too awkward. Chaz seemed to be the most outgoing of the three of them, but he wasn't here. Elyza  _did_ come to work with her; maybe it was sign to try and make friends. 

"So, do you guys go out on the surface that often? When I was up there it was pretty unbearable." she commented. 

"Well, we primarily live down here in the cooler temperatures, but we go outside a lot. Your armor was probably overheating you. Our clothes are mostly light-colored fabrics to reflect the light away, and keeps the sun from beating down directly on you." Elyza explained, glancing to the other, "It's fairly thin and breathable." 

"Oh," she said, "Maybe if we're here long enough, you guys can show us." Pidge suggested, pushing her slipping glasses up her nose, and finding herself averting her gaze back to what she was working on when eye contact was made. 

Elyza gave her a smile that Pidge noticed out of her peripheral vision, but didn't reveal any of her thoughts. 

It was a first for Pidge to really be connecting with anyone they met on the planets they visited. Lance, of course, was always finding some alien girl to gush over (recently he's stopped doing that, though). Keith  _was_ an alien, and Hunk had gotten along famously with Shay the Balmeran. Shiro was closer to Allura than any of the paladins, but yet again, Pidge found herself moderately close to everyone on the ship, but she didn't have the exceptional bond with someone everyone seemed to have. For a moment, she let herself consider that maybe she would make friends with Elyza, like Hunk had with Shay. Or something like what they had. 

It didn't take long for them to get everything up and running. Pidge didn't think anyone found this to be a hard thing to do at all, but it was nice getting to work with them nonetheless. It just made Pidge wonder about how long they would be here, and if they should be making bonds with people they would leave behind. Part of her hoped they wouldn't need to do that, though. 

Unforeseen to Pidge, Elyza floated the idea of going out on the surface with Pidge and Hunk to Chaz and Kaye, and Pidge was certain the other two Altean's would laugh and tell them that wasn't a good idea. But to her surprise, only minutes later they were being led off to a clothing establishment not far from here, fitted for robes and turbans Pidge was still convinced would only make them hotter out there.

 

Kaye, Pidge noticed, was the most secluded of the three. She hardly spoke, and when she did, it was to Elyza. Elyza and Kaye must've been longtime close friends, because whenever Pidge was alone with her, Kaye would be lingering in the background. It made Pidge start to wonder what exactly they were to one another. 

Elyza started to talk to Pidge about the importance of the color of what they were wearing, and how the lighter the color the better it would reflect the light. The thinner the fabric the cooler she would feel in the hot temperatures, and then how to tie the turban around her head to keep her from getting overheated. And that her mouth and nose needed be covered when needed, so she didn't breathe in sand. 

"Your skin is pretty pale, so you might want to stick to the really light colors," she advised.

"Alright, so i'm thinking like, the lightest shade of white you've got?" Elyza laughed at that. 

She actually ended up finding a shade of green Pidge thought was nice, and one that her lion would probably greatly approve of. The layers didn't feel as hot as Pidge first assumed they would. Actually, she felt more of a breeze in the coolness of underground in this than she did her casual clothes.

Elyza had began talking her through how she tied her turban around her head, to keep her cool and the sand from her eyes and nose. As she spoke, Pidge noticed that despite the cooler temperatures that made Pidge wish she wore pants instead of shorts, Elyza sported a sleeveless top and high-waisted shorts that made Pidge think of Wonder Woman. The only difference, which really cemented the fact that teenagers were teenagers in terms of fashion in every world, were the combat boots laced up over sheer thigh-highs she wore. She must've grown accustomed to the cooler weather. 

"We're going to try it on now, alright?" she told Pidge.

Nodding, Pidge hoped it wouldn't be too much trouble to ask her to help again later if she ever left the underground part of this town ever again, because she hadn't followed much of her explanation. Elyza started by lifting Pidge's glasses from her face and setting them aside. She was instantly self conscious when she made (slightly blurry) eye contact with the other girl. Since she was at the Garrison, Pidge can't remember letting anyone see her without her glasses. She just hoped she didn't look too weird without them on. 

It was weird the kind of trivial things Pidge could get herself worked up over when there wasn't something bigger to worry about. She didn't know which scenario she preferred. 

"Pidge?" she heard, snapping her out of her trailing thoughts and looking back to Elyza, now holding another mass of fabric that Pidge doubted would fit on her tiny self, "Sorry, I just didn't want them to get in the way." She pointed to the pair of round spectacles, which Pidge dismissed with a shake of her head, telling her everything was fine and to go on ahead. She didn't want anyone to be waiting for them. 

Pidge was expecting it to be heavier on her head, but she was proven wrong again. The amount of fabric on the top of her head was wrapped pretty thin, then it was rolled up thickly and wrapped around her forehead to jut out just above her brow to shield her eyes. the remaining bit hung by her ears, and another strip of green sheer wrapped around her neck, with enough left over to pull up for shielding her mouth and nose. Elyza slid Pigde's glasses back onto her face after she was finished, giving her a little smile, before she dismissed herself to get dressed.

For something Pidge brushed off as a useless trip, getting away from everything that bugged her felt... okay. 

The Altean's they met weren't half bad, either. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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